When an Experiment is Unneeded

The Republican-championed laboratories of democracy, the states, could be used to figure out what’s needed for healthcare in the 21st century. Let the states tinker, find out what works, and then we’ll see it spread.

But those experiments are not needed. We have scores of experiments conducted all over the world. We have all these examples of healthy healthcare in all these other countries. We just don’t have the political will to enact the sensible and sane in the USA.

Now, in Europe each state has its own healthcare system, and the US might still divide a universal system into per-state systems. But the Europeans also have the EHIC system, which allows for dependable treatment when traveling (both unplanned care and for chronic treatment).

The US might still do things different than Europe and the 58 countries with universal care. But the idea that we can’t figure out a problem that 58 other countries have? The amount of denial required to reach that conclusion could only be described as gross negligence.

We don’t need to experiment with allowing states to ignore real insurance in favor of slimmed-down plans that will result in financial burdens on the infirm. We don’t need new work requirements that undermine the definition of universal. We might make some minor use of high-risk pools, but we know the basic shapes that universal coverage come in.

It is high time that any party that seeks national recognition in the US would have a plan for universal coverage. That is a low bar for 2018. The Democrats currently seek a single-payer medicare-for-all style system. If the Republicans do not answer with a 50-states-plus-DC alternative, it will only be a matter of time before CMS is charged with overseeing healthcare across this nation.

We don’t need an experiment. The time where an AHCA or a BCRA might have reflected something the US would do is gone. The cardboard reads “Universal Healthcare or Bust!”